We went to the first annual Highland County Old Time Fiddlers' Convention last weekend, and left our cherry trees unattended. When we got home, we found the trail camera dangling upside down from its tree. Fortunately, we were able to reconstruct what happened. Bear sees camera....
Bear investigates camera....
Camera gets a tree bark closeup.
This bear visited earlier, but caught wind of the ripe cherries instead of the digital camera.
I think this is the solution to our Bigfoot game camera puzzle. Our cherries are ripe, and along with foxes, scarlet tanagers, raccoons, ravens, possums, cedar waxwings, and orchard orioles, bears are dropping by for chow time. This year, we have a sow with a very small, very cute cub. (No photos...yet.)
Check the bad hair day on this fellow's hindquarters, as he bolts past the salt lick.
The deer show no interest in cherries, but this gal seems ready for her close-up.
Our game camera pictures have been plentiful, and much alike. These deer visit regularly. However, Monday morning, the camera caught this:
Seconds later, whatever it was, it was gone.
Was it a bear having a bad hair day? Was it the the Mothman? (If so, he's a long way from Point Pleasant.) We decided it was probably Bigfoot. After all, the BFRO's 2006 sighting on the Greenbrier River Trail was so convincing that they mounted a return expedition in 2008. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that it was the Yayho, as described by Burl Hammons.
I planted a little patch of lettuce in early February. Most years, such early plantings are unsuccessful--they sprout and freeze, or get washed away in heavy rain, or they mold. This year, the rain did wash all the seed into low spots, but it looks like I might get a bit of early lettuce. It needs thinning, as soon as the plants are big enough to grab hold of.
The ravens have visited us regularly all winter. This isn't surprising, but this is the first year they've spent so much time here since we started spending time here. We've had bluebirds all winter, which is also unusual. Birds of opposing omens?
Here are some better pictures of one of our fox visitors.
A barred owl has been a regular visitor to the deer carcass for several weeks.
This gray fox visited late last night, but didn't come closer to the camera this time.
Just before dawn, this much larger guy showed up. Coyote?
Garden seeds came in the mail today, and, because the ground is bare and workable, I raked some damp soil loose and planted beets and radishes. That's where I found this guy.
This is shockingly early for little grasshoppers here. He was not only hatched and growing, but warm-blooded, quick, and hard to photograph. I foresee a good year for garden pests (but not for gardeners).
I'm caught up with posting about 2011 fiber activities. These patchwork pieces are my current project--a double four-patch wool coverlet. So far, I have 72 eight-inch blocks, sewn together into two four-by-nine block chunks.
I'm holding back on sewing the two big chunks together until I'm ready to finish the thing, as it's easier to handle this way. After auditioning the coverlet on the bed, I've decided that it needs more blocks: two additional rows and two columns more should do it. That's why I'm making 34 more double four-patch blocks. I have several polar fleece remnants that I'm planning to sew together to back this patchwork project, so it will be totally made of scraps, leftovers, and old clothing. I believe it will empty at least two large storage tubs of fabric scraps. It's a tightwad bonanza--hours of sewing pleasure without shopping, and decluttering/reorganizing to boot.
I took these photos last week, and yes, I was also drying clothes on the clothes line. I did so again today--we haven't had to use the dryer yet this winter. Very strange.
This week the USDA Agricultural Research Service released its new Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Strangely, I discovered this, not through the agriculture and gardening sites I follow, but through Mother Jones magazine's Blue Marble Blog. Julia Whitty points out:
The new map is interactive, which is cool, and based on a much finer data scale than the old one, which is great. And guess what. It shows that things are getting warmer. The USDA managed to pretty much bury that fact in Bureaucratese in their press release...Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period; the new map uses data measured at weather stations during the 30-year period 1976-2005. In contrast, the 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-1986.
The interactive USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map lets you select a state and "zoom in" to see surprisingly fine-grained detail. I've already zoomed in on every place I've ever tried to garden.
Lately, this blog has been heavy computer troubles and sewing project catch-up posts. There's more of both to come. This morning glory from last August is offered for a change of pace. I love the dusty pollen in the corolla.
A mouse built a summer nest in my box of Christmas ornaments and stuffed the stable full of chew-able ornament pieces. Once I picked the bits of paper from behind the Holy Family and glued the middle King back in place, things were nearly good as new--provided you overlook how I broke two little lambs off and glued them back before Mom got home when I was eight.
Cold, wind, and snow make this another good day for indoor activities (such as packing up Christmas decorations), and Princess seems to agree. Certainly there will be no mice in the manger in this setting.
Yesterday's cold rain has given way to icy wind and dry snowflakes. Princess wisely has chosen to join me in the sewing room.
New Year's early morning featured sun and blue skies over the valley fog, but by the time I left the house for the First Day Hike at the Droop Mountain Battlefield Park, these high clouds had moved in. Nevertheless, it was a fine day for a walk in my favorite park.
The hike as advertised in The Pocahontas Times:
"It will be a nice winter hike to see the park at a time when people don't normally see it," added Droop Superintendent Mike Smith.
While few people visit the historic state park in the off-season, Smith said the winter months offer their own special perspective on its trails. Smith said this is Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park's first scheduled winter hike in recent memory.
The First Day hike will cover two, mostly level, miles of trails, said Smith. Hikers will set out at 10 a.m. from the park office on a loop that encompasses the Overlook Trail as well as Horse Heaven or Old Soldier trail, progressing toward the lookout tower and back across to the park office on the Musket Trail.
Along the way, hikers will find an old bear den, small cave and rock features similar to those found at nearby Beartown State Park, as well as a stunning view toward Briery Knob. Smith will have a fire going in the park workshop and "maybe even some warm apple cider for when we return."
I've been all over the park at all seasons, but this is the first time I've had the pleasure of Mike Smith's guided tour. Civil War history, biogeography, prehistoric artifacts, or animal tracks--Mike can tell you something interesting about any aspect of the park.
The rain these clouds promised finally caught up with me on my way home. If you have to get caught in January rain, it's best to be within a quarter mile of the house.
Like other smooth-barked tree species here, the sumacs have lots of lovely lichens.
Lately, they have been rather rough in their foraging, and pieces of the fruiting bodies are scattered on the ground under the trees.
I wonder whether they enjoy these dry, furry fruits, or if they're the last choice here at the end of winter.
I've never sprouted onion seeds before, and I didn't expect them to be so curly and cute. I hope these will give us better success than we've had with onion sets here. The garden catalog called this variety "Walla Walla," and promised they'd do great things.
Just about the time we got the game camera aimed well, the flash developed problems. This is probably the last night-time bobcat picture we'll get. Oh well--it was fun while it lasted.
We continue to experiment with positioning the gamecamera for flash on snow. Saturday and Sunday nights saw some interesting activity. On Saturday, a raccoon and skunk visited early in the evening. Around 9:45, this Barred Owl dropped in and stayed for more than half an hour. It was too far away from the camera for a good picture, but I included these because I didn't know owls scavenged on carrion, and I wanted to show proof.
A gray fox passed through around 3 am.
Sunday, we tried half-covering the flash with electrical tape, and this gave better pictures. We had a possum, a gray fox, and two different racoons, but the bobcat really obliged us with some close passes by the camera. This is probably why Princess has been staying on the porch in the evenings.
The racoon didn't linger long under the bobcat's spooky gaze. Sherry's racoon had a more pleasant evening, I think.
Last night, we tried moving the camera farther away from the carcass to avoid wash-out effect of too much flash. The color is a little better, and you can see in our kitchen window.
"Red-eye removal" isn't an option here.
